Burmese Refugees at Risk as Thai Authorities May Force Them Back to Burma

Jun 24, 2009

Alarming reports from our frontline ministry partners in Burma can barely keep pace with the horrors facing the 4,000 Karen refugees. Weeks ago, the Burmese army attacked, killed and raped the Karen people, driving them to seek asylum in Thailand. Now the Karen people confront forcible repatriation back to Burma, where the murderous Burmese Army awaits.

We were approached on June 20, 2009 by a friend bearing news about the war raging on the border of Thailand and Myanmar (known as Burma). Our ministry partner reports. “All of the orphans and families we are supporting are at risk. Though they have been safe in Thailand for the past two-and-a-half weeks since the Burmese Army offensive against them, they may not be safe any longer.

The DKBA, a branch of the Burmese Army, is demanding that the Thai Army repatriate the refugees back to Burma by Tuesday this week (June 23). If they are sent back, the men will be killed, the woman raped and possibly killed, and the children made to walk in front of the DKBA army as they go through mine fields—the children will be blown up as human shields. Unfortunately, the local Thai Army in the area seems to be accommodating the wishes of the DKBA.”

A KWO (Karen Women’s Organization) statement reinforces how vulnerable women are to rape if they are forced to return. Two Karen women, aged 17 and 18, were caught by Burmese army soldiers after their husbands had fled into the jungle last week. The soldiers raped and then murdered the women, one of whom was pregnant, and the other a mother of a baby.

Our ministry partner writes to us: “We plan to visit the United Nations office first thing Monday morning, and with their help or without it, we will go to our orphanages on Monday afternoon (June 22), and intercede before the Thai Army on behalf of the fatherless, the widows, the orphans and the other refugees. “PLEASE, we need you pray that God will make a way for these poor innocent Christians not to be forced back into Burma and to their deaths.”

Please also pray:

• That the United Nations will grant official refugee status to these people, even if it’s only a temporary status. If they receive official refugee status, they can stay in Thailand and cannot be forced back to their deaths.
• That with refugee status we can acquire the legal papers needed to move them to a property far from this border area so that these already traumatized people will never again have to worry about the possibility of the Thai Army forcing them into the army of the vicious Burmese Army.
• That the Thai Army will realize their responsibility to protect these people. Pray for favor from the soldiers and a true spirit in them to save and protect the refugees that will replace their current attitude of letting innocent people be killed.
• For our protection as we drive these roads, dangerous in the rainy season, and for protection when we are with the people and before the Thai Army, and favor with the United Nations.
• That if God has another way to deliver His people, that “His will would be done in the earth!”

UNITED NATIONS: “In general, the Government has not allowed permanent foreign religious missions to operate in the country since the mid-1960s, when it expelled nearly all foreign missionaries and nationalized all private schools and hospitals, which were extensive and affiliated mostly with Christian religious organizations. The Government is not known to have paid any compensation in connection with these extensive confiscations. Christian groups, including Catholics and Protestants, have brought in foreign clergy and religious workers for visits as tourists, but they have been careful to ensure that the Government did not perceive their activities as proselytizing.”

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Burmese Refugees at Risk as Thai Authorities May Force Them Back to Burma